Thursday, June 7, 2012

A First For Bord Bia's Just Ask! Restaurant of the Month

EatGalway has been awarded Bord Bia’s Just Ask! Restaurant of the Month for June. This is the first time that the award goes not to a restaurant, but to a group of establishments, all based in Galway city, as a result of their dedication to sourcing ingredients locally.

Cava, Galway’s only Spanish restaurant, was opened in 2008 by husband and wife team Jp McMahon and Drigin Gaffey. Cava was soon followed by the terroir-based restaurant Aniar (2011) and subsequently by Eat @ Massimo (2011). The trio sits under the EatGalway banner with the mantra. “Three restaurants, One philosophy: Good Food, Local Suppliers and Artisan Produce”.

“We are committed to showcasing local and speciality Irish foods, albeit with international interpretation," comments Proprietor Jp McMahon. “Around fifteen respected suppliers are listed on our menus. With Aniar and Eat everything is sourced locally, and I mean everything, from our herbs to our mushrooms to our beef”.

The Allen family’s Casltemine Farm in Co. Roscommon supplies free range pork, lamb and grass fed beef. Irish pork, lamb and beef are also supplied by Collearan’s Butchers of Galway and Morgan Maguire Meats in Ballinasloe. The Friendly Farmer (Ronan Byrne) of Athenry supplies free range chicken and livers, while locally sourced fresh fish is supplied by both Moycullen Seafoods and Gannet Fishmongers in Galway. “95% of the fish we use in all three our restaurants is local”, says Jp. At least half a dozen suppliers of vegetables and salad leaves are listed, including Green Earth Organics and Dirk and Hella Flake of Kinvara. Milk comes from Arrabawn Dairies, Tipperary and apple juice from the Apple Farm at Cahir. Smoked salmon, mackerel and tuna all come from Connemara Smokehouse of Co. Galway.

On Thursday 14th Cava will host "Galway Tweet up", the event aims to bring like minded food people together through twitter and gives them an opportunity to meet and discuss all things food face to face. To celebrate the event Jp McMahon is preparing a special five course menu from starter to dessert, each course will include Ronan Byrne of The Friendly Farmers pasture chicken. The menu will speak of tradition, innovation and of using local food to the highest standards of culinary art.

Georgina Campbell said, “The supplier list to the EatGalway kitchens reads like an artisan producers’ Who’s Who of the West of Ireland – what it means to the local economy is extraordinary.”

Just Ask! is a Bord Bia campaign which aims to encourage consumers to look for information on where their food comes from when eating out and encourages chef’s to provide the information on their menus. According to recent research from Bord Bia, 81% of Irish diners believe it’s important that restaurants use local produce with 72% deeming it important that the origin of meat is listed on the menu.

As part of Bord Bia’s Just Ask! programme, restaurants listed on Georgina Campbell’s ireland-guide.com website are invited to submit copies of their menus and sourcing statements. On a monthly basis, a Just Ask! winner is chosen by Georgina Campbell in agreement with Bord Bia. In addition, an overall Just Ask! annual award winner is selected as part of the Georgina Campbell Awards which take place during October.

To get involved in Just Ask! or to find out more, see www.bordbia.ie. With so many great value restaurants right on your doorstep, eating out is still on the menu!

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